Chhattisgarh still won’t use Covaxin till Phase 3 trial data available: T S Singh Deo
A day after well being minister Harsh Vardhan wrote to Singh Deo saying fears in opposition to Covaxin have been unfounded and the state ought to use each Covaxin and Covishield doses provided to it, Singh Deo drew parallels with how the Centre had acted “unilaterally” in Goods and Services Tax problem and farm legislations. “Health is a state subject. The Centre cannot dictate terms to the state. This is how they had behaved unilaterally in imposing their will in case of GST and then on farm laws. The Centre cannot infringe on our right to decide,” stated Singh Deo including, “We have taken a principled stand. Our concerns are real. It is not moral to ask any person to take a vaccine which is still under Phase III trials. We would wait till the data is made public.”
Despite the well being minister’s letter, Chhattisgarh remained agency that it could not use Covaxin. Speaking to ET, Singh Deo stated that the vaccination drive wouldn’t get affected and the state would use Covishield to cowl its healthcare and frontline staff. “We have received 8,11,500 doses of Covishield so far. Till Thursday after vaccination, the balance stock with us was 5.21 lakh. So we will complete our vaccination of healthcare workers (second dosing) and frontline workers with Covishield,” the state well being minister stated.
Union well being minister Harsh Vardhan had additionally requested Chhattisgarh to expedite its vaccination of frontline staff, which began on February 3. He had written, “While I note that Chhattisgarh has achieved 69.87% coverage of its healthcare workers by giving them the first dose of the vaccine, the state has been able to cover only 9.55% of its 2,09,512 frontline workers.” Singh Deo, nevertheless, stated that the state had carried out increased numbers. “The progress for healthcare workers is a healthy 71.6%. AT least 10-15% of healthcare workers are pregnant and lactating women and a small percentage is unwilling to get vaccinated. The percentage of vaccinated frontline workers is 14.59% and not 9.55% as the minister has said. The vaccination numbers will go up,” Singh Deo stated.
